July31, 2010

Groton, Connecticut – House Armed
Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) delivered
the keynote address during the commissioning ceremony for
the USS Missouri ( SSN-780), America’s newest
Virginia class attack submarine andthe fifth warship in
American history to be named after the
“Show-Me” State.

In
his keynote address, Skelton praised the U.S. Navy and the
shipbuilders for working together to deliver the USS
Missouri under budget and ahead of schedule. Skelton
also noted that the military capabilities of today’s
stealthy submarine fleet are critical to protecting U.S.
national security and combating emerging missile
threats.

“At this time in history, we
have entered the Age of the Conventional Missile….And
as missiles have been increasingly utilized as conventional
weapons, the technological improvements in conventional
missile systems have significantly challenged the ability
to defend against them,” said Skelton.

“Because of her stealth and
the inherent protection of the ocean around her, this
submarine is the only platform being built by the United
States Navy that is immune to this new threat...This
amazingly modern warship need fear no missile, for beneath
the waves she patrols unseen and unheard. The
Missouri and her sister ships can strike, with pinpoint
precision, targets far inland, or engage an
enemy’s fleet directly. She can provide
real-time reconnaissance and she can provide direct support
to special operations forces. Although her main goal
is to prevent war, this vessel can in fact win a high
intensity conflict once started,” said
Skelton.

“It is my fervent hope that
this USS Missouri is never called upon to unleash her
powerful arsenal, but if she is, may her strike be swift
and true,” said Skelton.

A
copy of Skelton’s remarks as prepared for delivery is
attached.

_______________________________________

Prepared Remarks of Congressman
Ike Skelton (D-Mo.)

Chairman, House Armed Services
Committee

Commissioning of the USS
Missouri (SSN-780)

Groton, Connecticut –
Saturday, July 31, 2010

Secretary Mabus, thank you for that
kind introduction. Governor Nixon, Secretary Gates, Members
of Congress, Distinguished Flag Officers, all our friends
from the USS Missouri Commissioning Committee and citizens
of the great state of Missouri, the crew of the Missouri,
shipbuilders, family and friends, I am truly honored to be
with you.

This
is a great day – for the Navy, for Missouri, and for
America. Today we complete the first stage in the
life of this vessel and commission into the battle force
fleet of the United States Navy the 5
th USS Missouri, a 7,800 ton attack submarine of
the Virginia class. Her first crew is with us today,
and in just a few minutes they will man this vessel and set
the first watch. At the direction of the ship’s
sponsor, they will “bring the ship to life” and
begin the next chapter of service to the nation from a
vessel named Missouri.

Since
today marks the end of the construction process, I want to
thank the dedicated workers who constructed this vessel,
those great Americans who have taken raw plate and pipe,
cable and valves, and crafted this magnificent
warship. They, along with their Navy teammates,
should be justifiably proud.

I want to particularly thank
this ship’s sponsor, Mrs. Rebecca Gates, and the USS
Missouri Commissioning Committee, ably led by Sam Bushman,
for all their hard work and dedication on behalf of this
ship and her crew. We are certainly blessed to have
Mrs. Gates serving as sponsor.

The
role of the ship’s sponsor is steeped in tradition,
including taking part in the keel laying, the christening,
and the commissioning ceremonies. But more
importantly, the sponsor maintains close contact with her
ship and her crews, follows their professional development,
and shares in their joys and sorrows. I am very
familiar with this role since my late wife Susie was the
sponsor of the USS Jefferson City, a submarine of the Los
Angeles class. I can tell you it fulfilled her
life.

Captain Rexrode, I charge you to
frequently inform your sponsor about the activities of your
ship and crew. I also urge you to pass that charge on
to your relief, and he to his.

Mrs.
Gates, I am so happy for you. Today you truly begin
the most rewarding phase of being a sponsor, watching your
ship fulfill her operational missions and following the
progress of her crew. I know they will make you, and
all of us, very proud.

As
you know, there have been other USS Missouri’s in our
country’s history:

The first USS Missouri was a
ten-gun side wheel frigate commissioned in 1842 and
was the first American Naval vessel to cross the
Atlantic under steam power. Unfortunately,
she burned to the water line in the port of
Gibraltar and was lost.

The second Missouri was a
Confederate side-wheel steamer used to ferry
supplies on the Mississippi during the Civil War.
She was made of green timber, leaked excessively,
and was scraped by Union forces at the end of
hostilities.

The third USS Missouri, a
battleship commissioned in 1903, was part of the
famous “Great White Fleet” that sailed
around the world from December 1907 to February
1909, a voyage that marked America’s arrival
as a global power. In 1918, my father, Seaman
Ike Skelton, served as a coal shoveling fireman
onboard that historic vessel.

The last USS Missouri,
and the most famous, was commissioned in 1944 and
earned the nickname “Mighty Mo” for
continuous combat action from her arrival in the
Pacific theater until hosting the Japanese
surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay that ended World
War II. The “Mighty Mo” also saw
action during the Korean conflict and the Persian
Gulf War. Today that proud ship serves as a
floating museum in Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii.

These
are trying times for our country. We face the
uncertainty of serious economic challenges, a transforming
world power structure, and the resurgence of tactics such
as piracy and terrorism. Truly, these issues are
matters of great concern to each of us.

However, on occasions such as
today’s commissioning, we owe it to ourselves to take
stock as to where we are as a nation in the march of
history. We have difficulties, this is true, but our
country has climbed troubling mountains before. I
remember the words of the song from World War II, “We
Did It Before, And We Can Do It Again.” This is
the time for optimism, because the American
“can-do” spirit has not, and will not, be
broken.

There
is always, in every generation, a chorus of naysayers who
sound the negative drums in the background. We should
not heed these cynics. Rather, we should reflect on
the greatness of our history and strive to achieve in our
generation a legacy worthy of those who have gone before
us.

When
our country declared independence on July 4, 1776, the
thirteen American colonies faced the uncertain outcome of
picking a fight with King George the Third and Great
Britain, the greatest military power in the world at the
time. Fast forward more than 200 years, and we find
that those same colonies have grown to be the bastion of
freedom on the globe.

Our
history and our heritage call for us to shoulder the tasks
ahead with the typical American optimism that conquered the
wilderness, helped defeat totalitarianism, built the most
powerful economy in history, and preserved freedom as no
other nation has done.

This
ship is a prime example of that American can-do
spirit: delivered to the Navy under budget and ahead
of schedule. In fact, this Virginia class program is
currently the “gold standard” when compared to
other major defense acquisition programs. There is
none better.

The
can-do spirit adopted by this program met the challenge
placed by then-Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Mike
Mullen. He wanted to build two of these vessels a
year, but was frustrated because the cost prevented him
from doing so. He challenged the acquisition
community and the shipbuilders to reduce the costs of these
ships. The Navy and the shipbuilders made it
happen. Together, they improved process and design to
meet Admiral Mullen’s goal. They worked as a
team, and they did it in the finest tradition of the
American “can-do” attitude.

Congress also accepted this
challenge. Led by Congressman Gene Taylor of
Mississippi and Congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland,
the Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces of
the House Armed Services Committee crafted the necessary
legislation to fund long lead material, provide authority
for multiple procurements, and most importantly, begin the
construction of two submarines per year for fiscal year
2011 and every year thereafter.

Of
course, Gene Taylor had significant help in this
effort. Congressman Joe Courtney has been invaluable
due to his expertise in the needs of the
shipbuilders. Joe Courtney, whom we affectionately
call “Two Sub Joe”, along with Norfolk,
Virginia area Congressmen Rob Wittman, Glenn Nye, and Randy
Forbes, ensured that other Members of Congress fully
understood the importance of these vessels to our national
security.

Let
me tell you a story about the turnaround of the submarine
program. Four years ago, the program was
struggling. The Navy had not commissioned a fast
attack submarine in over 10 years. The program, at
both shipyards, was over budget and struggling to meet
schedules. What happened next should be in every
acquisition textbook under the heading of “This is
the Way to Manage a Program”, because this is true
acquisition reform.

The
Navy appointed Rear Admiral William Hilarides as the
Program Executive Officer for Submarine Construction.
Admiral Hilarides accepted the CNO’s challenge.
He sat down with his shipyard partners and formed a
coalition of professionals with a common goal. The
team, both Navy and shipbuilders, worked together to
identify ways to construct these ships more
efficiently.

These
are amazingly complex machines, and some of the ideas led
to redesigning parts of the ship to literally make them
easier to build, thus saving time and money. Some of
the ideas were about finding better ways to get the job
done. In the end, Admiral Hilardes and his shipyard
partners John Casey and Matt Mulherin accomplished the
impossible. They reduced the cost of these ships by
$500 million dollars.

This
amazing submarine and the other submarines of this class
are vital to our national security. The simple reason
is contained in one word: stealth. You see,
technology is increasing in all areas of science and
engineering faster than most of our military systems can
keep pace. Any student of military history can point
to key technologies that shaped the face of warfare: steel
weapons over bronze; black powder; rifled barrels; modern
artillery; the tank; aircraft; the battleship; and the
aircraft carrier. The newest technology to reshape
the face of high intensity warfare is the advanced
conventional missile. At this time in history, we
have entered the Age of the Conventional
Missile.

In
the 1950s, many military thinkers declared the Age of the
Missile – that is, the nuclear missile – and
declared conventional weapon systems obsolete. And
the Age of the Missile did come, but a funny thing
happened. Missiles became essential to all of the
military services, but tanks and planes and ships
didn’t go away. They didn’t go away
primarily because nuclear weapons did not end all
conflict. The need for conventional weapon systems
remained.

Indeed, as the missile age
continued, more and more strategic systems, like the
Tomahawk missile, were converted to include conventional
variants. And as missiles have been increasingly utilized
as conventional weapons, the technological improvements in
conventional missile systems have significantly challenged
the ability to defend against them.

This
change in warfare means different problems for each of our
armed services. For the Navy, it means that major capital
ships, such as aircraft carriers, may soon be vulnerable to
very long range precision attack. While we are
working closely with the Department of Defense to speed up
development of defenses to counter this emerging threat,
one ship remains untroubled by this threat. Because
of her stealth and the inherent protection of the ocean
around her, this submarine is the only platform being built
by the United States Navy that is immune to this new
threat. As yet, no technological advancement has made
the oceans transparent, or allowed for the targeting of our
submarines by missiles.

That
is why this submarine, and her sister ships, are so
valuable to the nation’s security. They will
remain free of the threat from the increasing accuracy and
availability of advanced conventional missiles and will
patrol in areas where quick and precise retaliation will
give any potential adversary pause.

The
stealth of the submarine is still unchallenged. This
amazingly modern warship need fear no missile, for beneath
the waves she patrols unseen and unheard. The
Missouri and her sister ships can strike, with pinpoint
precision, targets far inland, or engage an
enemy’s fleet directly. She can provide
real-time reconnaissance and she can provide direct support
to special operations forces. Although her main goal
is to prevent war, this vessel can in fact win a high
intensity conflict once
started.

As I
stand here today on this magnificent ship, the USS
Missouri, my hopes are simple – may she sail the
oceans of the world for decades, keeping her sailors safe
from the awesome forces of the sea, may she provide power
to our commanders, comfort to our allies, and sleepless
nights to our foes.

As a
boy, my father taught me the naval saying he learned aboard
the USS Missouri of his day: “Red sunrise in morning,
sailor’s warning; red sunset at night, sailor’s
delight”. At the end of every day this ship
sails the seas, may she have delightful red sunsets.

It is
my fervent hope that this USS Missouri is never called upon
to unleash her powerful arsenal, but if she is, may her
strike be swift and true. In the words of Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow,